HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Internet Archive WayBack Machine - nothing worse than finding the link your been looking for only to find the web page is no longer available. Now you can browse through 55 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - www.ixquick.com - a search engine which checks all other search engines. Saves you having to trawl through Google, Yahoo, AOL, Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, MSN, Wikipedia and many others.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Curious Fox - The village by village contact site for anybody researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland. Every UK county, town and village has a page for family history, local history, surname and genealogy enquiries. Use the search box to find your village or town.
General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) - part of the devolved Scottish Administration responsible for the registration of births, marriages, civil partnerships, deaths, divorces, and adoptions. They run the census and use Census and other data to publish information about population and households. They are the main source of family history records.
Historic Scotland - safeguards Scotland’s historic environment and promotes its understanding.
The National Archives - records of the UK Government from Doomsday to the present. Descriptions of more than 10 million records held by The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom. You may either search or browse through the descriptions. Images of the documents are not available. You can request copies online or place advance orders for the day of their visit.
Scottish sequestrations - a sequestration is a Scottish legal term for personal bankruptcy where you are formally declared Bankrupt by the Court. Selected dates covered (
December 1850, Jan-June 1851, Jan-May 1856, Apr-June 1886, May-June 1900.
HappyHaggis Scrapbook - a collection of unrelated newspaper articles which might help someone somewhere or just make an interesting read..
GENUKI - offers a massive amount of local information. A list of counties leads you to links for - towns and parishes, county-related information, archives amd libraries, bibliography, cemeteries, census, church records, civil registration, court records, description and travel, genealogy, language, military history, military records, personal names, newspapers, population stats, societies and taxation.
Origins Network - a comprehensive and exclusive British and Irish record collection dating back to the 13th century, as well as rare and unique photos and books to browse.
The Indiaman Magazine - a wide range of online resources, including ebooks, maps and videos, as well as some searchable databases of records.
Internet Surname Database - a free system created to help you learn more about your family name, and then share what you discover with others. Currently this site consists of a database of approximately 50,000 surname origin researches.
Resources for Learning in Scotland (RLS) - a resource base headed by the National Library of Scotland (NLS) and SCRAN - involving over 100 Scottish archives and libraries. There are over 107,000 records, 650 resource packs and 26 websites on Scotland's social, cultural and industrial heritage.
Scots Origins - search for locations by County or by place name only. Features comprehensive and exclusive British and Irish record collections dating back to the 13th century, as well as rare and unique photos and books to browse.
The Original Record.com - contains scans of 2,500 historical books and documents containing over 10 million entries relating to families in the British Isles and colonies.
Channel 4's 'Lost generation' - Lost Generation offers an opportunity to turn those long lists of names of the fallen back into real people with real desires and potential, to understand their world and celebrate their astonishing stories. Offers a name and memorial search, viewer contributions, family histories, information on The Somme, WWI general information and a forum.
Highland Clearances chronology - a list of significant dates between 1762 and 1856 from the excellent book 'The Highland Clearances' by John Prebble (1969).
The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies - located in Kent. The collection contains such items as Genealogical textbooks outlining research techniques, Genealogical source material for each county, Published census, probate indexes and marriage indexes, Trade directories from 1677 to the mid 20th century, School and university registers and Scottish Old Parochial Registers. See the website for full details.
Science and Society Picture Library - SSPL represents over a million images from the Science Museum, the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television and the National Railway Museum. There are over 50,000 images digitised, and dedicated staff available to help your research.
www.familyrecords.gov.uk - aims to help you find the government records and other sources you need for your family history research. Topics include births/death/marriages, religious records, census, wills, immigration, emigration, military records and adoption.
Tracesmart - allows you to search for current people, addresses and electoral rolls. Requires the purchase of credits.
www.spatial-literacy.org - shows the distribution of more than 25,000 surnames at the time of the 1881 census and in the 1998 electoral register. Now called National Trust Names.
Monumental Inscriptions - these are recordings of the details of gravestone information. Not everyone could afford a gravestone. Many stones have fallen or are weathered, and are now unreadable. The Scottish Genealogy Society has the largest collection of Scottish monumental inscriptions in the world. Contact them if you wish to pursue this line of enquiry.
Getty Images - photo collection with tens of thousands of images to be viewed or purchased.
NameThesaurus - a technology for finding surname and forename variants. May assist in old spellings and help you back on track.
Old Photographs - Roger Vaughan's personal collection of of old photographs showing locations, fashons and themes.
www.victorianweb.org - articles and information on a wide range of Victorian subjects. A great site if you want to understand how your Victorian ancesters thought and lived. The search facility is useful in this large site.
Villages Online - a guide to quickly find many of the village, town or community websites throughout the UK.
Vision of Britain - a vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions. Enter a postcode or town/village name.
www.scotlandgenweb.org - part of the worldgenweb.org international website in the aim to provide genealogists with a worldwide resource to localised information. Information is limited but worth a look just in case.
Currency Converter - find out how yesterday's prices and wages compares to today's prices with this online currency converter.
Purchasing Power Comparisons - here you can ask questions of comparative value covering purchasing power, exchange rates, and other variables between the past and today.
The National Virtual Museum - has news, listings and features from over 3,000 museums, galleries and heritage sites throughout the UK.
Ancestral Scotland - contains clan, surname and placename searches which provide general information and links.
Black Sheep Index - has a large collection of indexes to records relating mainly to law and crime or particular occupations, such as UK police forces, railwaymen, mining accidents, doctors & churchmen, Royal and merchant navy men, shipowners, publicans and brewers.
British Home Children - dedicated to the 100,000+ orphaned British Home Children who were sent to Canada between 1870 and the 1940's. There are over 50,000 names on their searchable database.
Cemetery transcription Library - over 4 million records from over 8,900 cemeteries around the world. It is US-focused, but there were five Scottish counties covered at time of writing.
Encyclopedia of Genealogy - a free-content encyclopedia created by its readers. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy is available to everyone, free of charge. Everyone can also contribute information, again free of charge.
Family History Online - publishers of online records compiled by Family History Societies. You can search over 65 million records including parish registers, memorial inscriptions, censuses, poor law documents and thousands of photographs of gravestones. Most of the coverage is for England and Wales, but the UK Stays abroad, Army deserters and the Chapel Books Deeds and Documents index are worth a look. This is a pay-to-view site.
Gaelic Scotland - offers some background on the language but focuses mainly on providing you with the means to source required information for yourself. The genealogy page has some information and gaelic-related links.
Edinburgh Gazette - online version of the Edinburgh Gazette (also Belfast and London) which details public notices and records, including civilian and military medals. The archives are searchable 1820-2001 for the Edinburgh edition.
The Genealogist - a significant collection of online records for the UK, claiming to have the largest collection of UK census transcripts. This is a pay-to-view site.
RootsWeb - large range of old maps listed under county names.
www.freecen.org.uk - census data available on one database ranging from 1841 to 1891.
Internet Library of Early Journals - a digital library of 18th and 19th Century journals. Free viewing of Annual Register, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and The Builder. Journals are searchable and results lead to full scanned pages of the original.
The Original Record.com - scans of 2,500 historical books and documents containing over 10 million entries relating to families in the British isles and colonies are available to download. Search now for the records of the surnames you are interested in, and order scans of the actual pages for direct viewing on-line. Charge applies but free to search.
Understanding Buildings - an introduction to architecture with pages on Building Types, architectural styles and traditions and building materials and methods of construction. Concentrates on English architecture but may be useful with Scottish research.
The NameThesaurus - a technology for finding surname and forename variants. May assist in old spellings and help you back on track.
Churches, churchyards and cemeteries - the aim of this site is to provide a photographic record of various UK churches, churchyards, graveyards and cemeteries for the benefit of those genealogists who cannot access these sites themselves. Also has links to similar sites in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA and Europe.
The Contact Register - founded by Missing Links UK in association with LookupUK.com as the ultimate resource for all adopted people, birth parents, brothers, sisters and extended natural family members, wishing contact with one another, to be able to register their interest.
Victorian Web - articles and information on a wide range of Victorian subjects. A great site if you want to understand how your Victorian ancesters thought and lived. The search facility is useful in this large site.
Villages Online - a guide to quickly find many of the village, town or community websites throughout the UK.
Vision of Britain - a vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001, including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions. Enter a postcode or town/village name.
Scotland GenWeb - part of the worldgenweb.org international website in the aim to provide genealogists with a worldwide resource to localised information. Information is limited but worth a look just in case.
The Original Record.com - scans of 2,500 historical books and documents containing over 10 million entries relating to families in the British isles and colonies are available to download. Search now for the records of the surnames you are interested in, and order scans of the actual pages for direct viewing on-line. Charge applies but free to search.
1851 census strays - born in Scotland but enumerated in England according to the 1851 census.
Geograph British Isles - this project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Anglo-Scottish Family History Society - assists in overseas genealogists trace their links back to Scottish origins. Includes a Scottish strays marriage index list.
Past Pix photo archive - contains 20,000 Uk images, dating from the 1850;s onwards. Some images are from postcards. Free to view but images are also for sale. Images are listed in themed order or listed under counties.
Findagrave.com - over 200 listings of Scottish burial places. Concentrates on people who are famous.
County-Surnames.co.uk - at time of writing, surname discussions were listed under Argyllshire, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian, Perthshire and Stirlingshire.
The Contact Register - founded by Missing Links UK in association with LookupUK.com as the ultimate resource for all adopted people, birth parents, brothers, sisters and extended natural family members, wishing contact with one another, to be able to register their interest.
Explore Genealogy - a very tidy site containing over 100 articles on various genealogical subjects. Click here for information on education records.
Maritime History Archive - has about 70% of the surviving UK crew lists. More importantly the website can tell you where most of the other records are kept.
Society of Genealogists - contains listings of surnames from it's documents collections and online catalogue as well as an impressive list of lectures and tutorials.
The Guild of One-Name Studies - the premier UK-based organisation for one-name studies. The Guild welcomes as members anyone who has an interest in the subject. Members who are carrying out a one-name study may register their study with the Guild.
Hall Genealogy Website - a list of archaic medical terms, specifically to help genealogists.
Families in British India Society - over 3 million Britons served in India and South Asia from the 17th century. This site has over 200,000 transcribed civil, ecclesiastical, maritime and military records from the India Office and East india Company 1737-1947.
The Statistical Accounts - an essential sources of study of Scottish life from the 18th and 19th centuries, and are available free of charge.
Parish Searches - this site allows individual Parish searches on the LDS church's International Genealogical Index (IGI). and lets you know which years are covered in baptism and marriages.
Ancestors Onboard - records of 30 million passengers on thousands of ships sailing to destinations worldwide, featuring BT27 Outward Passenger Lists for long-distance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1890 to 1960.
Understanding Buildings - an introduction to architecture with pages on Building Types, architectural styles and traditions and building materials and methods of construction. Concentrates on English architecture but may be useful with Scottish research.
Francis Frith Collection - contains photographs, aerial photos, memories and books. They are all for sale, but doesn't cost anything to look.
Diseases and medical terms for genealogists - most of the definitions of diseases are from medical dictionaries or medical texts compiled at different points in the nineteenth century.
COPAC - provides free access to the merged online catalogues of 24 major university research libraries in the UK and Ireland plus the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the National Library of Wales/Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru.
Tribal Pages - allows the online creation of family trees, help with genealogy and see family photos.
Digital Documents - lists over 160,000 Up places that can be searched in several ways, using parts of words to find the correct name and location by county. A very handy site when a document has an illegible place name.
www.creech.info - In genealogical research latin terms are often encountered in church records and legal documents. This list is intended to aid the genealogist in interpreting those terms.
www.tracingyourfamilyhistory.com - contains almost 4 million names, with old maps, discussion boards and chatrooms. There is a charge to access information.
Taxation Records at The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) - held are several series of records relating to taxation. Until the 17th century taxation was regarded as an extraordinary source of revenue levied for specific purposes such as the defence of the realm, the king's marriage or the knighting of his eldest son. Originally taxation fell on land and property with the barons, the burghs and the church sharing the burden. Details of late medieval taxation can be found in exchequer records but there are no actual accounts until James VI's reign. In the 17th century the government sought to broaden the tax base. Various early attempts at taxation can be found in taxation records in the Exchequer records (NAS ref. E59- 70).
Scottish history articles - some articles on aspects of Scottish history by Peter Lawrie BSc, BA, MPhil, MBCS, CITP, FSAScot, CFA, including The Irish Scots of Dalriada - or were they? / Watson's Celtic Placenames of Scotland / The Political Context of the Battle of Glen Fruin in 1603 / Scottish Castles - Fortifications or Mansions? / Highland Clothes - or did an Englishman invent the kilt? / The Clan Gregor in the last Jacobite rising of 1745-46 / Kinship, Landholding & Crime - Clan Gregor 1583-1611 / Glen Gyle House - built by Rob Roy MacGregor / A study of the Poor Roll in a Scottish Highland Parish, 1864-1915 / Family structures in Kildonan in the 19th century / Migration patterns into eastern Sutherland from the 1851 census / Occupations of the workforce in two Sutherland parishes in 1851 / An analysis of Wages and Prices in 19th century Sutherland.
Black Sheep Index - has a large collection of indexes to records relating mainly to law and crime or particular occupations, such as UK police forces, railwaymen, mining accidents, doctors & churchmen, Royal and merchant navy men, shipowners, publicans and brewers.
Cemetery transcription Library - over 4 million records from over 8,900 cemeteries around the world. It is US-focused, but there were five Scottish counties covered at time of writing.
Former purchasing power - a site where you can ask questions of comparative value covering purchasing power, exchange rates, and other variables between the past and today.
Internet Library of Early Journals - a digital library of 18th and 19th Century journals. Free viewing of Annual Register, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Gentleman's Magazine, Notes and Queries, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and The Builder. Journals are searchable and results lead to full scanned pages of the original.
The Heraldry Society of Scotland - founded in 1977 with the objective of promoting the study of heraldry and encouraging its correct use in Scotland and Overseas.
British History Online - the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, the aim is to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research.
Database of ethnic diversity - providing data about ethnic diversity and migration in the UK. This site will tell you where a first and last name originates from, and an interactive map shows the spread of ethnic groups across the country.
Highland Clearances chronology - a list of significant dates between 1762 and 1856 from the excellent book 'The Highland Clearances' by John Prebble (1969).
Scottish Wills
The Scotlandspeople.gov.uk index is free to search. Register a free account and you will gain access to over 600,000 wills and testaments dating from 1513 to 1901. Each index entry lists the surname, forename, title, occupation and place of residence of the deceased person, the court in which the testament was recorded and the date.
